The present invention relates to a new and improved construction of apparatus for displacing three dimensional articles, especially stacks of printed products, relative to a horizontal support element which is changeable in its position.
The apparatus of the invention is of the type comprising a thrust or pusher element exerting a thrust or pushing action upon the articles which are to be displaced, the thrust or pusher element can be moved by means of a drive device forwards and backwards parallel to the support element over such support element. Such apparatus is preferably used for ejecting stacks of flat articles or products, especially printed products, from a receiver chute of a stacker device and which receiver chute is closed at its lower end or bottom by the support element.
With a heretofore known apparatus of this type, as disclosed in German Patent publication No. 1,951,506 the thrust of pusher element is attached to a horizontal thrust or push rod driven to carry out to-and-fro movements. This thrust rod carries and guides the thrust element, and therefore, requires a correspondingly sturdy mounting of the thrust rod. In order to be able to displace the thrust element over the entire length of the support table, the thrust rod has an appropriate length so that it laterally protrudes to a considerable extent past the housing of the equipment. In the event that the thrust rod is not employed for supporting and guiding the thrust element, then, there must be provided a separate guide for the thrust element. However, this results in a complicated construction.